First-graders take first steps learning to read
Workshops focus on techniques for getting children to learn
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - Whether it is "The Cat in the Hat," "Goodnight Moon" or "Where the Wild Things Are," everyone has a favorite book from when they were a child. To help first-graders learn to read effectively and enjoy the gift of literature, Livingston Park Elementary School held The Home & School Reading Connection workshops on Jan. 3 and 4 as part of a grant received by the Education Foundation.

"First-graders start to learn how to read and parents are very curious about how to help their child and with these workshops what we try to do is bridge that gap between home and school," said Kristin Gristina, the Livingston Park language arts coordinator, who is a former first- and second- grade teacher. "This is the perfect time because kids are ready to read and parents are excited so everything seems to gel together."

Gristina said that a lot has changed in terms of language arts instruction over the years, especially as research is formulated about the brain and how kids learn. As a result, on the first night of the program, parents were separated from their children in order to receive instructional tips on comprehensive reading strategies. They were taught about schema, which is everything which the students come to school already knowing. They learned about how to expand upon schema so that children can make predictions, formulate ideas and ask questions about character actions and settings while reading.

According to Gristina, this becomes intrinsic motivation for the students. For example, if the class is reading about sharks, they wonder if they eat people or if they don't. If they don't eat people, then what do they eat? How do they stay alive?

"We build upon knowledge kids already have and how to build and push that further," she said.

Other reading techniques presented to the parents included using sensory imagery to become involved with the text; visualizing the story without looking at illustrations; inferring "why" a certain action happens in a story; predicting what action will happen next; determining the importance of the central ideas of the story and the author's message; and activating prior knowledge so the children can make personal connections to the story.

During the actual demonstration on the second night, Gristina brought the children into the room with their parents and read to them, applying the techniques she described previously to the adults.

The first story, "Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!" by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas, focused on a vegetable farmer who was trying to keep out bunnies that were eating his crops. Before reading, she told the students to think about the characters, setting, problem, details and events and solution so that they would be prepared for a discussion after. During the story, Gristina used animated storytelling, different character voices and volume changes to show emotion.

Afterward, she had the 10 first-graders recap the story, referring to the pages of the story they discussed. She had the children explain what they were thinking and used a story map of the details to make the retelling more fluent, from the initial problem right through to the end of the book.

The second story was "How I Became a Pirate" by David Shannon, about a young boy who joins a pirate brigade but realizes all of the perks may not outweigh his current situation at home.

This time around, the parents scribed for the children, who were told to ask questions about the story before, after and during the reading. At first, based on the cover illustration, she had the students ask questions about what they wanted to learn from the story. Then, she stopped several times throughout the book to see what questions had remained unanswered thus far and if any new ones had developed. Finally, at the end, the children discussed what had literally happened during the story and what topics had remained open.

"Bringing parents in [and teaching them] about what the kids do during the day is more of a benefit to the kids," Gristina said.

The first part of the series was held in November, designed to teach parents about decoding and fluency strategies. For example, when children are reading they generally try to sound out words. Other techniques include looking at the beginning sound and getting the lips ready to make that sound, recognizing parts of the word and reading the rest of the sentence to see what makes sense.

Any parent seeking additional information or practice handouts can contact Gristina at (732) 289-3300 or at KGristina@mail.nbtschools.org.

Although this particular program was available only to Livingston Park students, the entire district participates in a Language Arts Literacy Night every year which features workshops, games and pamphlets for students and parents in grades K-5.